You’re ready to jet-set and only have one thing left to do – book your lodging. You’ve already narrowed it down to a hotel or a home share but are unsure which to choose. We’re here to explore the key reasons why a hotel is the optimal choice over a home share.
Ever look at pictures online of a home share listing, only to be unfortunately surprised when you arrive? Sadly, this is a common experience with home shares, whereas with a hotel brand, you are guaranteed a more consistent experience. User generated content on review sites also offer extra transparency as to what to expect before arriving to your hotel room so you can have realistic expectations prior to booking.
In addition, hotels have a smoother, easier check-in and check-out. Simply walk up to the desk and check-in. With home shares, it can be a headache to coordinate with the hosts, from punching in the wrong security code to looking for physical keys under rocks. Speaking of headaches, hotel management can address any potential problems quickly, versus home shares where you are at the mercy of the host. Sometimes, problems such as a lack of hot water or broken furniture, won’t even be addressed until after your stay.
Finally, since home shares are run by hosts, they can cancel your reservation at any time. This especially becomes problematic if they cancel last-minute and this can leave you and your group stranded. Moreover, booking a last-minute substitute for your original home share can end up costing even more money than you intended to spend. Conversely, hotels won’t cancel on you, and you can change your reservation on short notice. This brings us to our next reason to choose hotels over home shares – cost.
Everyone wants to save a buck, and when doing cost comparisons of hotels versus home shares, the results may surprise you. In terms of location, for many major cities, hotels are closer to the city center, making them closer to restaurants, activities, and they cost less than home shares located in the surrounding neighborhoods. In 2020, Wanderu analyzed data from leading travel sites and reports that cities such as Miami, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Vancouver, are actually cheaper for travelers to get a hotel versus a home share.
In addition, according to Business Insider, the leading home share site now passes on the same occupancy taxes as hotels to consumers. Plus, with home shares, there’s also guest service fees (as much as 20%) plus cleaning fees. When the taxes and fees add up, home shares can, more often than not, be more expensive than hotels.
Hotels such as Best Western® Resorts & Hotels, offer loyalty rewards programs, that rewards guests with points for future stays. Best Western Rewards® is a free program that offers discounts just for joining – you can pay with points and you can redeem points worldwide. Read more about the “Top 3 Reasons to join Best Western Rewards®”. Comparatively, there are no rewards programs for booking the same home share or even using the same company to book a home share. There are other perks that Best Western® Resorts & Hotels offers that many home shares do not – complimentary breakfast and pet-friendly stays are just a few reasons to stay, too.
